WARREN: Five Senators storylines to watch

In one regard, the Senators are no different than the NHL’s other 30 teams. If the goaltending is consistently weak, the chances of success are about the same as a beer-leaguer stopping Connor McDavid on a breakaway.

In the Senators’ case, though, it’s paramount that Craig Anderson and Mike Condon give their team additional confidence. Weak goals early in games could be a devastating blow to a team with limited experience, especially on defence.

For the Senators to have any hope of treading water in the hunt for a playoff spot, the duo will also need to steal games.

Anderson (.898 save percentage) and Condon (.902 save percentage) weren’t close to good enough last season. There are concerns that Father Time may have caught up to the 37-year-old Anderson, but he also has a long, intriguing history of bouncing back with a solid performance after a weak campaign.

Don’t hold your breath waiting for Filip Gustavsson to arrive. He’ll begin the season with Brampton of the ECHL, where he’s guaranteed to see the bulk of the action.

THE GREEN BLUELINE:

The challenges are never-ending for Senators coach Guy Boucher, but foremost among them is protecting his young defence against the most difficult match-ups.

Can Thomas Chabot and Cody Ceci stop the opposition’s top lines every night? Can Chris Wideman, Mark Borowiecki and Dylan DeMelo survive more ice time than they’ve ever seen before? As Max Lajoie makes his NHL debut Thursday, can he extend his superb play of the pre-season into regular season success, when the intensity and consequences of mistakes rise?

Indeed, it’s going to be a tricky dance for Boucher—he has talked repeatedly about “team defence”, meaning forwards have to take their share of responsibility—in maintaining the confidence levels when trouble does happen.

The Senators are nothing if not cost-conscious under owner Eugene Melnyk, explaining why Ben Harpur (armed with guaranteed NHL contract for the next two seasons) will start the season in Ottawa despite a poor training camp.

When Harpur gets his shot, perhaps as early as this weekend against Toronto or Boston, he’ll also be trying to hold off the promising Christian Jaros, who was assigned to Belleville on Tuesday.

REMEMBERING THAT IT’S ABOUT TOMORROW:

We’ve reached a crossroads in Senators history. Whatever happened in the past is gone, replaced by a long-term plan to grow around a group of prospects that includes Chabot, Brady Tkachuk, Colin White, Alex Formenton and Lajoie.

The club has been careful not to talk about short-term expectations, for fear that if the errors and losses pile up on top of each other, it will put too much pressure on the youngsters too soon.

The talk centres more around growth and development, about making sure the players continue to improve as the skate towards the peak of their careers. If the Senators just happen to win sooner rather than later, so much the better for the grand plan.

But how much rope will Boucher give the young players when they make mistakes, considering that he’s in the final year of his contract and needs to show some positive results along the way?

If, in two or three years, the young core does develop as hoped—a cast that includes Jaros, Logan Brown, Filip Chlapik and Drake Batherson—will Boucher still be around?

KEEPING STONE, DUCHENE AND DZINGEL:

Mark Stone and Matt Duchene deserve plenty of credit for their leadership during training camp.

While they are scheduled to become unrestricted free agents next summer, in position to walk away from Ottawa in pursuit of the highest bidder, they were anything but selfish during the exhibition schedule.

In fact, they were the Senators top two forwards as they led the prospects.

For Ottawa to compete for the post-season, it’s going to have to be a similar story for them and Ryan Dzingel, who is also in position to cash in as a UFA next summer.

Regardless of what happens in the first couple of months, Stone, Duchene and Dzingel will be mentioned time and again in trade speculation—at least until one, two, or three of them sign an extension.

Should the Senators slip out of contention, however, it’s inevitable that the speculation will grow louder by the day; would the Senators see more long-term value in dealing them away?

Of course, the better Stone, Duchene and Dzingel perform, the better off they will be—whether that’s with the Senators or a new team.

THE (IM)PATIENCE OF FANS:

From the trading away of former captain Erik Karlsson to the general distrust the community holds for owner Eugene Melnyk, it has become clear that fans aren’t speeding to Canadian Tire Centre to buy tickets.

Even amid all the speculation that the Senators are literally giving tickets away for the opener, there could be several thousand empty seats.

And then what happens for the second, third and 41st home games of the season?

Look no further than the Chicago Blackhawks, who are just exiting a decade of excellence and dominance that saw them win three Stanley Cups in front of boisterous, sold out crowds.

At one point in the early 2000s, they had a season ticket base of 5,000.

The Pittsburgh Penguins were in an even worse situation—the possibility of moving to Kansas City or Hamilton or somewhere else were very real—before the arrival of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin and the return of Mario Lemieux as an owner. The fans came back as the team started winning again.

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